OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14458038
BURN,FRACTURE,NATURAL GAS,EXPLOSION,PIPELINE,FACE,LEG
Event description
EXPLOSION IN PIPELINE
Investigation abstract
TWO EMPLOYEES WERE CUTTING OUT A 3' BY 3' SECTION OF A CORRUGATED METAL PIPE WHI ROM THE WATER PIPE. SOME OF THE NATURAL GAS MAY HAVE SEEPED INTO THE CORRUGATED PIPE, WHERE IT ACCUMULATED. CH ENCLOSED A 12" WATER PIPE. THEY WERE USING A GASOLINE POWERED CUT-OFF SAW WIT H AN ABRASIVE CUTTING BLADE. A FLAME APPEARED AT THE CUT POINT AND WAS EXTINGUIS HED WITH WATER. THE EMPLOYEES THOUGHT THE BURNING MATERIAL WAS TAR ASPHALT ON TH E CORRUGATED PIPE. THE EMPLOYEES TOOK A HALF HOUR LUNCH BREAK, THEN RESUMED CUTT ING THE PIPE. AFTER ANOTHER 50 MINUTES OF CUTTING, THE FLAME REAPPEARED. AS THE EMPLOYEES BEGAN TO PUT WATER ON THE FLAME, AN EXPLOSION OCCURRED. ONE EMPLOYEE R ECEIVED FACE BURNS, A FOOT INJURY, AND A BROKEN KNEE CAP. THE SECOND EMPLOYEE RE CEIVED TORN LIGAMENTS AND BURNS ON BOTH LEGS. A GAS LINE WAS LOCATED ABOUT 30' F
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 20 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 43
- Occupation code
- 869
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 20 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 43
- Occupation code
- 869
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Task assigned
- 1
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.